Suchergebnisse

Threats and force, by increasing expected costs, should reduce the target's resolve. However, they often seem to increase resolve. We label this phenomenon provocation. We review instances of apparent provocation in interstate relations and offer a theory based on the logic of reputation and honor. We also consider alternative explanations: confounding or mis-imputation of resolve; revelation of information, character, or capabilities; or generalized sunk cost reasoning. Using survey experiments, we systematically evaluate whether provocation exists and what may account for it. We employ design-based causal inference techniques—a hypothetical natural experiment, a placebo treatment, and ruling out mediators—to evaluate our key hypotheses. We find strong evidence of provocation and suggestive evidence that it arises from considerations of honor, vengeance, and reputation. Our experimental design minimizes the risk that this result arises from our alternative explanations.

Four decades ago, Karl Deutsch devised what he called 'Parkinson's Law for national security': A nation's feeling of insecurity expands directly with its power. This certainly seems to apply to the United States, which is simultaneously the strongest country in the history of the world and the most insecure of today's great powers. The threats it has recently identified in the international system, from Iraq to Hugo Ch vez to terrorism, are minor compared to what most states have had to confront throughout history. As states grow in power they usually also become more materially secure; why, then, do they often seem to worry more, often about trivial matters? This essay explores the political psychology of unipolarity. Pathologies arise when irrational forces drive policymaking; presumably better policy results from more rational cost-benefit analyses. (Survival / SWP)

By applying queer and critical gender theories to the notion of the masculinized subject, this article theorizes the complexities of the `homosexual' threat within the Canadian legal domain of the provocation defence. The article remarks that most `homosexual' advance defences at the appellate level are rejected while only some are successfully believed. It argues that the extent to which appellate decisions have recognized this defence is predicated upon a logic of (hetero)normativity in which the threat of the `homosexual' advance is not homosexuality per se, but rather, symbolic feminization. This notion of symbolic feminization is theorized and tested through its application to appellate cases. The `homosexual' advance defence is most often rejected because it has the potential to destabilize the fiction of a (hetero)normative masculine subject as impenetrable. Nevertheless, in some appellate cases, the threat of symbolic feminization was ruled to be imminent and its deadly defence worthy of the court's consideration. In a unique case, R. v Valley (1986), the court located `homosexual' threat by recasting the violence of emasculation through the figure of the `S-M homosexual'. Fleshed out as predatory, sexually aggressive and hyper-masculinized, the `homosexual' could now pose an imaginable threat to normative masculinity.

"Infectious Disease as a Foreign Policy Threat" published on by Oxford University Press.

An increased emphasis on gender equality in the EU's foreign and security policy could potentially pave the way for a Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) for the EU. Analysing the perceptions of Sweden's FFP in newspapers of eleven EU Member States, this article contributes to the literature on norm enhancement – advancing the depth and scope of the existing norms in an area – as well as to the discussion on Member States' views of FFP and the potential for introducing a FFP into EU foreign policy. Studying salience, (in)coherence and legitimacy of Sweden's FFP in newspapers, the results demonstrate that FFP is most frequently reported in like-minded countries, and least reported in Member States with conservative views on gender equality. There is also a dividing line between left-leaning and right-leaning newspapers, with the former reporting considerably more and being more positive towards Sweden's FFP. The relative lack of interest in Sweden's FFP in some Member States, as well as the critique from especially right-leaning newspapers, suggest that a FFP for the EU is not likely to come about in a near future.
Feminist Foreign Policy, European Union, Sweden, external perceptions, norms, media analysis

Many of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's appearances on the world stage can rightly be called provocations. His verbal radicalism and regular threats to cease supplying oil to the United States make international headlines. But his rhetorical gestures cannot be dismissed as the megalomania of a "South American potentate". Venezuela possesses huge oil and gas reserves and operates a dynamic and well-calculated foreign policy that is causing increasing headaches for the United States and other countries. Although the diplomatic provocations are directed primarily towards the United States, the Venezuelan president is attempting to overturn international macro-economic and political structures through a new form of South-South cooperation. The institutions of regional integration in Latin America have come under pressure from his new parallel organizations. But Venezuela cannot live up to the new regional leadership role it aspires to. Despite its strategic energy resources, Venezuela is not yet in a position to build on its influence in South America to play an enduring leading role in the Western hemisphere and global politics. President Chávez's initiatives have turned turn out to be inadequate to establish a new international order and win long-term political and economic support of other partners (like Iranand Russia) for its interests. At the same time Venezuela is an important player for the West, and should be integrated responsibly in order to keep open channels of influence

Aus sowjetischer Sicht

Many of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's appearances on the world stage can rightly be called provocations. His verbal radicalism and regular threats to cease supplying oil to the United States make international headlines. But his rhetorical gestures cannot be dismissed as the megalomania of a "South American potentate". Venezuela possesses huge oil and gas reserves and operates a dynamic and well-calculated foreign policy that is causing increasing headaches for the United States and other countries. Although the diplomatic provocations are directed primarily towards the United States, the Venezuelan president is attempting to overturn international macro-economic and political structures through a new form of South-South cooperation. The institutions of regional integration in Latin America have come under pressure from his new parallel organizations. But Venezuela cannot live up to the new regional leadership role it aspires to. Despite its strategic energy resources, Venezuela is not yet in a position to build on its influence in South America to play an enduring leading role in the Western hemisphere and global politics. President Chávez's initiatives have turned turn out to be inadequate to establish a new international order and win long-term political and economic support of other partners (like Iranand Russia) for its interests. At the same time Venezuela is an important player for the West, and should be integrated responsibly in order to keep open channels of influence

"The central goal of this reader is to develop the capacity for critical thinking about key issues in foreign policy and to turn students into social scientists who can understand and critique complex phenomena. Use of this reader will save time for instructors who may not want to spend weeks researching the best new articles in each subject domain. It consists of five parts: Part One: Historical Perspectives and Part Two: Theory and Grand Strategy sets the tone of the reader, wherein students are exposed to basic tenets of U.S. diplomatic history, and international relations theory; Part Three: Institutions and Processes examines the role of institutions and processes, largely at the domestic level of analysis, in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy; Part Four: The U.S. and the World provides a collection of essays on U.S. foreign relations with key states and regions in the 21st century; and Part Five: New Domains examines salient new domains in U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century. The reader will compliment existing U.S. foreign policy texts. The majority of the chapters are from published articles (e.g. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, etc.), although several chapters were commissioned directly for this volume"--